ii8 Curb, Snaffle, and Sp 



2ir. 



I have handled for the past five years. The 

 horse I employed to illustrate my method for this 

 chapter was a young mare that had never been 

 asked to face an obstacle until it came into my 

 hands, and I was still riding it in the breaker's 

 saddle, as a precaution against plunging, for 

 which I suspected it had a predilection ; yet in the 

 second lesson I rode it over a hurdle less than 

 four feet wide, and it made no attempt to avoid 

 the jump.-^ 



I do not call upon a young horse to take leaps 

 higher than three feet, as the animal must not be 

 discourasfed ; but as it becomes stronsrer and 

 more confident in its powers, the trainer may 

 raise the obstacle to any reasonable height, with a 

 certainty that the horse will make the attempt, 

 and that it will have possession of its wits in 

 avoiding a mistake. One of my horses (Alidor) 

 became so clever in jumping that I frequently 

 rode it over "doubles " without reins, and it never 

 made a mistake, either in or out of the school. 



1 This mare was put to jumping much too soon, as it had no 

 mouth, and but little discipline ; but I had no horse that was just 

 entering the lessons in the double bridle, so I had either to take an 

 old schooled horse, or one of the green fillies I had selected for 

 illustrating the earlv lessons. 



